As the weather was meant to be good yesterday I took a little trip down the Calder valley line to Mytholmroyd, one of the towns which was badly hit by the Boxing Day floods of 2015. Nearly 15 months later, Mytholmroyd is still struggling to recover from the devastation. Although both the pubs have reopened, they’re still showing the effects. The Shoulder of Mutton’s beer garden backs on to Cragg Brook which burst its banks that day, flooding the whole area under several feet of water. Here’s what the brook and beer garden look like today. Giant ‘Lego’ blocks act as a bulwark against the brook, but take up all the beer garden!

The Environment agency is currently working on strengthening the towns flood defences, so I’m hoping that this is only a temporary measure.

It’s not just businesses that suffered in the floods. I passed several homes along the brook which are still empty as the owners are waiting for them to be renovated or dry out. Whilst the floods no longer make the news it’s clear the effects linger, even if the TV cameras don’t.

The reason for my visit wasn’t to gawk at the damage caused by the floods, it was to have a look at another of the worksites on the railway West of the station as a follow up to my earlier blog on the Calder line modernisation. There’s several footbridges on this stretch. Most of them have been renewed over the past few years and replaced with high sided metal structures suitable for electrified lines. What they’re not good for is photography – unless you’re carrying a ladder. However, one stone arch bridge remains at the end of Erringden Rd. Wide enough for a road, it’s now just a footpath. It cuts right across what will be one of the sites for where track renewal will be taking this coming weekend (25-26th March) – as you can see from this shot.

Looking back East towards Mytholmroyd station. The Up line on the right was renewed back in January 2014. Lights and matting have been left in the cess next to Down line which will be renewed this weekend. New rail has been dropped in the four-foot of the Up line. In the background is one of the new footbridges. The two signals seen here are controlled by Hebden Bridge signalbox, which will be abolished as part of the resignalling scheme. No new cable troughing has been laid in this area but the existing troughs have had broken or missing lids replaced.

For reference, this next view was taken back in January 2014, looking back to the bridge I was standing on today.

Renewal of the Up line in January 2014

Whilst I was in the area I had chance to get a shot of one of the new freight flows that use the line. Last summer, GBRf started hauling stone from Arcow quarry on the Settle-Carlisle line through to Bredbury or Pendleton in Manchester. The trains run as Q services (Q=as required) and have several different paths allocated for them to use in the timetable, so they’re a bit unpredictable. I only found this one was running a few hours before it did. Here’s 66725 hauling 6M38, the 11.25 Arcow quarry to Bredbury.

Yesterday I visited South West Trains Wimbledon Park depot to see the second of their Class 455 fleet being converted to AC traction & hear Christian Roth, Engineering Director for South West Trains, who was on hand to talk about the reasons for the programme.

Converting the 91 strong fleet from DC to AC traction will cost £38m. It’s funded jointly by owners Porterbrook and the Department of Transport (with DfT stumping up a 3rd of the cost). The project has a number of aims & advantages, which are;

AC traction motors give the train regenerative braking capability saving £2m a year in electricity bills and lessening wear and tear on the braking equipment compared to pure friction braking.

They’ll have new Wheel Slip Protection (WSP) system which is based on modern, European Algorithms rather than the legacy BR system the 30yr old units have now. This will reduce wheel flats during the leaf fall season & help extend the exam period from 10,000 miles to 15,000 miles. The new A/c motors are also less prone to damage from snow ingress.

Christian explained that the cost of overhauling a Class 455 is around £150,000-£200,000, so extending that period by 1/3 on a 91 strong fleet is a not insignificant saving. It’s not hard to see that there are advantages to carrying out the conversion. But the most significant one isn’t to do with the 455s at all…

Extending the maintenance regime frees up space at Wimbledon Park allowing it to become home to SWTs next fleet – The 30×5 car Class 707 Desiro City trains from Siemens. This £210m investment is vital to tackle growth & overcrowding on the SW network. Without the space at Wimbledon Park a new depot would have been necessary, significantly altering the finances of the Class 707 project. After Christian’s briefing we went to inspect the second unit to be converted (5870) which was sitting inside the Inspection shed on 12 road. Here’s a look at the work.

Fitting the AC traction package to 62778 from 5870

AC traction motors installed in 62778s bogies

AC traction control pack for 62778

High speed circuit breaker for 62778

The first unit to be converted (5732) was also done at Wimbledon Park (in exactly the same place) back in 2014. Here it is;

Right now 5732 is undergoing tests between Bournemouth & Weymouth. Once 5870 is completed (which is expected to be 19th June) it’ll also be sent to Bournemouth & the two trains will carry out further tests such as passing at speed & running as 8-cars.

Christian told us that the testing programme is going well with the equipment performing “better than expected”
Once testing is finished by the end of July the converted trains will enter service & free up others for the programme which will be carried out at the Arriva train depot at Eastleigh, starting at the end of August/ beginning of September. Three trains per week will be converted until the programme is complete in August 2016.
So, if you’re an aficianado of the 1930s designed English Electric EE507 traction motors, you’ve got little more than a year to hear these long serving beasts in action under the 455s…